Trentlink and Canal and River Trust aim to enhance River Trent in Newark

Exciting plans are in place to enhance the riverscape through Newark — and businesses and volunteers are being called upon to help make it happen.

Trentlink is a group of volunteers set up to improve and enhance the visitors’ experience of using the River Trent, working in partnership with the Canal and River Trust.

Dean Boswell-Hyde, chairman of the group, said that the plans are to encourage more boaters to use the Trent, but first, there needs to be better infrastructure in place to make it safer and easier for boaters to use.

“The idea is we want boaters to moor here in Newark and then make the most of the amenities in town, and this will then help to improve the economy too,” he said.

“We want to enhance the the riverside as much as we can, and find more ways to do that and for local people to get involved.”

Trentlink has already secured a winter mooring for the ‘Leicester Trader’ the Newark Heritage Barge, run by fellow Trentlink volunteer Les Reid, and there are now plans to create a permanent site for the barge to be able to showcase Newark Lock’s heritage.

One of the things the group is looking at is trying to attract more volunteers and create a Friends of Newark Town Lock, similar to the Friends of Newark Castle.

“We need lots of volunteers to make this work,” Dean said, “We all have a part to play to make sure this will work in the future, and we would be grateful to anyone who would be willing to come along and help.”

Keith Girling, chairman of the town’s Riverwatch scheme — similar to a Neighbourhood Watch scheme but along the town’s river — said that the group wants to invite some of the businesses and pubs along the river in Newark to get involved in the plans as well to make the Newark experience even better for people passing along the River Trent on their boats.

“It’s about promoting the fact that the area is a safe place for people in barges to stay,” he said, “We want people on boats to want to moor up in Newark and come and see what the town has to offer.”

As well as increasing CCTV along the river to improve security for mooring boaters and installing signs to promote the Riverwatch scheme, the volunteers are also hoping to improve lighting down the stretch as well to improve security for boaters, and create a footway to make embarking and disembarking boats easier.

One of the ways that volunteers can get involved is to volunteer to help maintain tidy and safe waterways, trimming over-long vegetation, maintain signage and buoys, and generally keep the area looking tidy to encourage and attract more visitors to want to stay and visit Newark.

If the plans to regenerate Newark’s riverscape are a success, Keith suggested that a boat festival could even be a possibility if there were sufficient funds and volunteers to help make it happen.

A Riverwatch meeting is scheduled to be held on October 8 at the Castle Barge at 10am, where the plans will be discussed and any interested parties are invited to attend.

To find out more about how you can get involved with the plans, visit https://trentlink.website/ or email admin.team@trentlink.website or cllr.keith.girling@nottscc.gov.uk